How Curiosity Will Scoop Its Way Around the Red Planet

Once NASA's Curiosity rover safely touches down inside the Gale crater in August (*crosses fingers*), the real challenge begins. The 2,000-pound, 10-foot long rover will begin searching for traces of a wet Martian past. But first, researchers at the JPL needed to make sure its sampling arm was up to snuff—here's how they did it. [JPL]